Magazine

How To Be The Simone Biles Of Your Money

By Sallie Krawcheck

August 17, 2016

We can’t cure our obsession with the historic female domination taking place at the Olympic Games this year. Katie Ledecky, Simone Biles, Laurie Hernandez, Simone Manuel, Corey Cogdell, Michelle Carter — legends who will undoubtedly go down in history.

It reminded us of what our girl Gloria Steinem once said: “Women still require an adjective and males don’t.” Still true — even at the Olympic Games, even in 2016.

Then there was this from the star of the gymnastics competition, Simone Biles, after winning the all-around Gold: “I’m not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps. I’m the first Simone Biles.”

Mic drop. Goosebumps.

Um…What the heck does this have to do with investing?

The media’s coverage of female athletes at the Olympics hit close to home for us. Ever since we announced Ellevest to the world, we’ve received comments about investing for women as a “nice idea” and “a good option for women.” And those were the generous backhanded compliments. We’ve also had people call us reverse-sexists, stupid, pandering, opportunistic. Not once has someone jumped to the conclusion that an investment platform built by women, for women means smarter and better for women than anything else out there.

Ellevest is not the “lady version of men’s investing.” We’ve busted our a$$es to make our algorithms smart and powerful. Because women need it. If we got paid the same as men do, had lifespans as short as men’s, and took fewer-to-zero career breaks, we could probably use the same investing advice men get — whether it comes from a robo or a guy named John behind a fake-mahogany desk.

But that’s not the reality when it comes to women and money, so we need investment plans that will work harder for us, be smarter about our financial realities, and tailor specifically to our real-life goals.

And just who do we think we are, flipping the script and giving women unprecedented entry into the world of investing — which has historically been a guy’s game?

We’re not going to bro-out with your money and high-five each other over basis points. We’re not going to bark at you about beating the market and outperforming an index, or mansplain tax-loss harvesting to you. Instead, we ask you about you, and what you want to achieve. Because you don’t have to be an Olympian to reach some pretty big goals in life, like buying a house, starting your own business or retiring like a champ. And you don’t have to be “the female” Warren Buffet or Mark Cuban to do it.